Meet ELLE's Women in Tech

For the first time ever, ELLE rounds up the most influential women in the tech industry in our July Social Issue, on newsstands June 24.
Beyond Sheryl and Marissa and the man-child zillionaires, what does tech-world power really look like? Many of these 13 women have lots of authority and, yes, money, but they all share one quality: guts—to launch ideas, companies, and even (actual) rockets.

Danae Ringelmann, Cofounder, Indiegogo Danae
Ringelmann

Danae Ringelmann, Cofounder, Indiegogo Danae
Ringelmann

Ringelmann’s business began with a problem. She was working in finance, keeping tabs on big entertainment companies like Pixar and Lionsgate, when she noticed that independent artists, filmmakers, and theater producers had a terrible time finding investors to fund their ideas. Through Indiegogo, a crowdfunding site, Ringelmann sought to “democratize access to capital,” making fundraising tools available to artists and entrepreneurs of all stripes. “It’s working,” she says of the 200,000 campaigns that have used Indiegogo, “and ideas are getting unleashed every week.” Also unleashed every week? Several million dollars, to efforts across the world. It was tough to quit her job, go back to school, and then gamble on Indiegogo in 2007, especially because her parents had owned a small moving company and often struggled to make ends meet. “I wanted to be that security blanket for my family,” says Ringelmann, now 36. “But the day to day of finance wasn’t feeding my soul.” Now she’s doing what she loves, and Indiegogo just locked down another $40 million in funding. To her, doing good and making money are not opposing goals. “Everybody wants to make the world better,” she says.

Grace Woo, Founder, Pixels.IO

Grace Woo, Founder, Pixels.IO

Grace Woo is the rare tech entrepreneur who wants to reach people offline. As a grad student at MIT, she noticed that QR codes were “visually obtrusive” and not all that useful, because they required so many steps. So the 28-year-old engineer developed a technology called video response codes that can turn any screen into an online interactive experience. VR codes are transmitted in the light emanating from a screen, which makes it possible to embed them in any digital surface, from a TV to a smartphone, and send information even if the device is not online: Think of exchanging contact information with someone merely by pointing your phones at each other. Going from the lab to “building a company was a big decision for me,” Woo says. But Pixels.IO has the attention of major media companies such as the Home Shopping Network. In the future, if you can impulse buy by simply holding your phone to your TV, you’ll probably have Woo to thank. Or blame.